XVII. Then the Cid said unto the King, Sir, I have appointed those who
are to do battle with the Infantes and their uncle for the enmity and
treason which they committed against me and my daughters; and now, Sir,
as there is nothing more for me to do here, I will leave them in your
hand, knowing that you will not suffer them to receive any displeasure
or wrong soever, and that you will defend their right. And if it please
you I would fain return to Valencia, where I have left my wife and
daughters, and my other companions; for I would not that the Moors
should rise up against me during my absence, thinking peradventure that
I have not sped so well in this matter as I have done, praised be God
and you. And moreover I have to make ready for these marriages which
you have now appointed. And the King bade him go when he pleased, and
good fortune with him, and said that he would protect his knights and
maintain his right in all things. Then the Cid kissed the King's hand
for this which he had said, and commended the knights to his keeping.
And the King called for Count Don Remond his son-in-law, and gave the
knights of the Cid to his charge, and bade them not depart from him;
and then the King rose and returned to the Alcazar.
XVIII. Then the Cid took off his coif of _ranzal,_ which was as white
as the sun, and he loosed his beard, and took it out of the cord with
which it was bound. All they who were there could not be satisfied with
looking at him. And the Counts Don Anrrich and Don Remond came up to
him, and he embraced them, and thanked them and the other good men who
had been Alcaldes in this business, for maintaining his right; and he
promised to do for them in requital whatever they might require; and he
besought them to accept part of his treasures. And they thanked him for
his offer, but said that it was not seemly. Howbeit he sent great
presents to each of them, and some accepted them and some did not. Who
can tell how nobly the Cid distributed his treasure before he departed?
And he forgave the King the two hundred marks which should have been
paid on account of the Infantes. And to the knights who had come from
Aragon and Navarre concerning the marriages, he gave many horses, and
money in gold, and sent them with great honour into their own country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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